What's your cautionary tale?

[BrightInMyNorthernSky]

Having just got through the most stressful week ever due to a nightmare situation of my own making, I thought I would share a previous and current cautionary tale.

1. Always remember to change the address on your V5 and not just your license. I didn't. DH got caught speeding twice on the same day on the same stretch of road (33 in a 30) in my car. Both fines went to old address. Didn't answer them, obvs. The whole sorry mess played out without me being aware and by the time it all caught up with me it was had been banned from driving for six months and fined £2k - five months earlier! So had been driving while banned for five months!!!

Always re check reviews on hotels/accommodation before you travel. If I had done this I would have realised mine was a scam with initial fake reviews. There was no apartment there. Lost everything and had to find accommodation late at night with young children.

Good one @feelinhopeful
I will add: beware accommodation that has mostly really good reviews but two or three bad ones. If they sound like they were written by reasonable people, take heed.
Places with just one bad review, they're usually a nutter, I would say.

This has just reminded me of a thread on MN a few years ago not long after I joined. I don't know the name of the OP or anyone on it, but it was about her DS who was about 6 or so and she couldn't work out why he smelled bad when he was bathed daily and generally kept clean. Within a fairly short time, someone suggested he had stuck something up his nose, so she took him to A&E (not sure if they went the GP first) - and he had. I think it was a sticker and it was stuck so fast I think the poor lad had to have an operation! I remember thinking - wow, MN is so clever!

Just tried to set up the MOT checker to find that it was due yesterday. Thank you PP!

Beware Will writing companies.
My Mum dies a few months ago and my sister and I are pulling our hair out trying to find her will. Mum and Dad wrote wills with a company who came to visit them at home in 2008. We have found a letter from the company who after a google search apparently went into administration in 2016, with large debts. Apparently Will companies are unregulated and anyone can set one up.

Don't leave it too late to say things you want to say to the people you love, time is short and runs out very quickly. We always think we have more time and then one day we don't.
If you are asked by a doctor to put a loved one on to end of life care ask them exactly what this means before agreeing to it.

If you go to work abroad for a few years and decide to rent your house out, FGS do it through a reputable agent, not on an informal basis to friends or family. We were told so many times by fellow expats that we were mad to be paying an agent 15%+, but in absolutely every case of people we knew who were renting on a ‘friendly’ basis to friends/family, they had trouble: one or more of a) failing to pay the rent, b) refusing to leave when they returned and needed the house back, c) trashing the place.

And one friend arranged for his BiL to rent the house out and pay the mortgage. Instead the BiL installed his mistress in it and failed to pay the mortgage. Friend came within a whisker of having his house repossessed.

Can i add to that, please do not pile anything at the bottom of the stairs. A bloke living on the same street as me fell down the stairs carrying the baby, baby survived he didn't, he smashed his head on a tool box he had left at the bottom.

Noooo! The best was the woman who was apparently planning to give birth in a giant carp tank because they were "spiritual midwives". Cold water, potassium permanganate, all sorts of craziness and she insisted it would be fine....

If someone tries to steal your bag/phone, just let them. The end loss will likely be the exact same if you try and resist, but with added injury and trauma (or worse)

Have children under the assumption your family will provide little/ no support; Even if you witnessed them support with other children in your extended family.

This is true on any variable speed motorway- I recently got caught doing 56 in a 50 because I didn't slow down in time.

Omg do we have the same MIL??

Unfortunately yes, I panicked

"My family, did the kitchen in my first house. To be clear I paid for all the stuff but they didn't charge labour (it is the family trade). While they did a great job I never heard the end of it. Every conversation with other people, family or events FOR YEARS they found a way to shoehorn into the conversation that they had done this 'big gift' and wax lyrical about the cost and effort"

Unfortunately think I can top that. My brother did some wiring on a house I bought when I was 18 ... it has been mentioned every time I've seen him since, most recently at a family funeral last year. It was literally 50 years ago! It makes him happy but I feel I've paid for the work 100 times over.

The same thing happened to my elderly mum.

She now pays on a rolling month by month thing, so that it doesn't happen again.

Yes, we had a similar experience a few years ago - PiL saving money by using someone who came to the door. To cut a long story very short, my dh ended up getting not even a penny from his dm's will because it was all done incorrectly and was easily challenged by her new husband's family when she died.

And if you don’t, don’t wash your hands with warm water and soap, it seems to activate the heat.
Another food related one, unless you know what you’re doing don’t use a mandolin without the guard.

Rubbish. Weaker financial partners get weaker lawyers.

Also, check what the bad reviews say and whether what they're saying actually matters to you. Some examples from planning a trip a while ago

• lots of stairs to climb and no lift
• cobbles outside in the street so you might struggle with a wheeled suitcase
• breakfast is over at 9am
• no sausages or eggs at breakfast
• no TV in the room

All completely irrelevant for us. On some sites you can search with keywords for things you do care about, like noise or heating.

Never open up to a sweet old lady from another country you meet by chance in a London hotel. Unless you want 10 years of emotional blackmail, 4 weekly phone calls, a letter each day, and constant reminders that you are late in replying.

Dont keep salvon next to your toothpaste

If for whatever reason you decide to run from the police, make sure that you havent left any forms of ID like say your driving license behind.

Take 5 seconds before opening your mouth to think how what you are about to say may be received, especially when dealing with anyone in authority who is already annoyed with you (because say you ran away from them).

At work when dealing with the public, properly log every single interaction because "if it's not written down, it didn't happen!!!"

Use email for all "difficult" conversations even if it is just to recap so you have a record.

If you think there is a massive dog/drug dealer etc in a cupboard...don't open it when you are by yourself (both scenarios I encountered at work and turned out to be fine but as my boss/the Police lectured me, could easily not have been).

Run a mile from any man who "jokes" about hitting you.

Are you sure you heard that with the garlic stuck in your ear? 🤣

I started going out with my husband six weeks after he split up with his wife. We got married four years later and are still happily married 18 years later.

gardenmusic · Today 08:19
^Read the instructions on your prescription medication.
For many years I have taken my levothyroxine with a coffee in one hand and a breakfast bar in the other.
Recently supplied with a different brand, I read the instructions. No caffeine or food for 30 mins after taking the medication..^

I have just reread the instructions in the latest box because of you, last time being many years ago when it said an hour would be best! If you have other medication there’s a 2 hour wait.